can have no judicatorie or judgement 2. I never denied the two courts distinctly set down Rom. 13. one is the power of the magistrate to which we are subject for wrath the other that to which we are subject for conscience sake In this latter God hath set up a tribunall wherein the conscience passeth sentence either of condemnation or of absolution The sentences passed in these two courts have no conflict which cannot be said of the sentences passed in presbyteries which many times are opposed and reversed by the magistrate but the magistrates condemning is no hinderance to the conscience from passing a sentence of absolution either for the fact committed or for other sins 3. Neither is the minister a judge whether the condemned person is penitent or no but the conscience of the man is which more properly is the judge that absolveth or condemneth only the minister furnisheth evidences helping the man to plead guilty or not guilty 4. The pastor comforting or rowzing up the prisoner doth discharge the part of a messenger and not the part of a judge in a court for he is no judge of a man who leaveth him to the judgement of another as doth the minister 5. The nature of a court is not to condemn upon supposition that the prisoner knoweth himself guilty but absolutely to condemn that person whom the judge and jury have a particular knowledge to be guilty and such is the nature of the court of conscience when it justifieth only where it knoweth it self clear and condemneth where it is conscious of its guiltinesse But no pastour hath a particular knowledge of any persons evidences for heaven but what he gathereth by outward signes and so all acts of his either of absolution or of condemnation are meerly upon supposition and no acts of a judge and therefore no acts of a court In short both a court of magistrates and a court of conscience in absolving or condemning know what they do but the pastor knoweth not God only knowing it 6. The action of a pastour absolving is no act of court but an act of the same nature with the preaching of the Gospell by which pardon is pronounced to all that truly repent and lay hold on Christ by faith 7. The party arraigned in a true court such is the court of the magistrate and that of conscience is dismissed clear or guilty as the judge of the court shall pronounce but none can be guilty or not guilty and stand or fall as the minister shall verbally pronounce there being here no concurrence of any act of his but that of the spirit in the word by his ministery 8. This arraigned person who is necessitated to under go the sentence of the magistrate either for absolution or condemnation hath no such necessity to go to the church or pastour except he hath personally offended some of them or oweth them mony in which case his reconciliation is no appearance in any court only a brother or a creditour may pardon him his debt or offence that is pray God to forgive him Here there is no footstep of jurisdiction of either party on the other but in case the party arraigned seeks to be reconciled to God none being able to make his peace with God but God himself nor to declare peace but the testimony of his conscience the pastour may help to clear his evidences and so may any godly gifted brother and well read in the Scripture but neither of them properly judgeth him or maketh his peace neither is here any jurisdiction 9. The nature of a court is to have power and jurisdiction over those that are unwilling as Jesus Christ saith to St. Peter Were it free for a thref to appear or not appear before the court and go to prison or to the gellows if he listed such a coure were a name and not a thing but we pastor 〈◊〉 in no court that hath power over the prisoner except he be perswaded to call him or to admit him and be convinced by him for if be let the minister alone the minister â—…th neither power nor court to convene him to 10. What he saith that the magistrate cannot take exceptions that the Consistory absolâ—… whom the magistrate condemneth as if it would not concerne the magistrate to take an account of the fact of the minister in absolving 〈◊〉 prisoner and as if the pastour were not â—…ged to give an account of it to him may be questioned for the magistrate is bound to take â—…re that his prisoner make his peace with God before he die and to use all means towards it to that end he must appoint ministers and if they will not be employed about that work or in case they do it amisse I say he may interpose his power and authority and so say most of the Divines that if the minister do not discharge his place in all its functions and acts that the magistrate ought to enjoyn him to do it And thus far the externall acts of the minister visiting the prisoners and comforting them are subordinate to the jurisdiction of the magistrate 11. What he also saith that the magistrates office doth not extend to the care of souls may likewise be questioned for the contrary is proved by Scripture and the authority of most Fathers and Divines St. Austin against Cresconius lib. 5. cap. 51. saith that Kings are Gods ministers not only in things that pertain to humane society but also to Divine religion Rivetus on the decalogue saith that the â—esser care of the magistrate is the administration of the Common-wealthâ— but the first and chief care is the government of the church How can the magistrates be nursing fathers keâ—…ers of both tables bound to reform settle and preserve the true religion and promote the interest of Jesus Christ as magistrates except they ayme at the saving of souls But though the office of the magistrate should not extend to the care of souls yet this doth not conclude a church-judicature distinct from that of the magistrate for neither doth the magistrate meddle with the physitians office in curing diseases or look to the health of horses and other cattle every office hath its severall care but not its severall jurisdiction 12. This may be also questioned that the Consistory is not to meddle with the sentence of the magistrate for if he cleareth the nocent and condemneth the innocent he hath as much to do with him as with the poorest wretch condemned to die he must tell him as John told Herod it is not lawfull for thee to do that and cry abomination to him There is no action of the magistrate no sentence or judgement of his wherein there is either right or wrong but falls within the cognizance and reprehension of the minister 13. Briefly in the case propounded there is not the least footstep of jurisdiction or court no citing no witnesses no plaintiff no defendant sentence condemnation absolution sergeant gaole executioner all conditions
necessarie in every judicatorie not so much as one of them is found in the court of Mr. Calandrin 1. They do not cite the party they entreat him to come if he will not come they have no remedy they cannot compell him 2. They have no witnesses nor evidences of the case and therefore cannot pronounce sentence 3. The absolution must be null when they do not know whether it shall stand 4. Neither do they know whether God will not absolve whom they condemn 5. They cannot put their sentence in execution 6. This can be no court which the arraigned can dismisse when he pleaseth 14. I shall willingly admit two courts whereof I have spoken largely in my Paraenesis one called forum externum the externall court or the court of magistracy which is to be found in some measure of power in all assemblies and societies of men as churches synods presbyteries families schools colledges corporations c. and the other called forum internum or the court of the conscience 1. In this God hath set a tribunall a judge a witnesse a plaintiff and defendant 2. In that all is carried by outward evidences whether in a synod presbyterie or any other court 3. In that there is an obligation of active or passive obedience to the laws decrees and ordinances that have the sanction of a law whether just or unjust 4. In this obedience is due for conscience sake and in obedience to God to lawes ordinances and commands either of God or of men that are by the judgement of approbation discretion apprehended to be good just and holy 5. In this there is a stronger stresse of obligation laid then in that so that as we ought rather to obey God then men a man is obliged notwithstanding all the sanction of the magistrate to appeal from the court of the magistrate to that of the conscience and to yield no obedience to any lawes injunctions or commands of magistrates pastours synods presbyteries churches till after they have been there reviewed and approved of There being but these two courts and jurisdictions in the case propounded by Mr. Calandrin the minister cannot be judge in another mans court or conscience and in that court I do not conceive he would put a greater tye then the magistrate doth upon any man as to bind him not to appeal from his judgement to the court of his own conscience or at least not to remove the cause judgement of the ministers court to his own court Neither is the minister judge in the other court except by a delegated power from the magistrate or by an assirmed power of magistracy binding either to active or passive obedience neither from that court do I think that Mr. Calandrin would bind a man not to appeal to the court of his conscience 15. To draw to a conclusion in the case propounded by Mr. Calandrin we have acts of function but none otherwise of jurisdiction then in the function of a physitian whom in relation to his sick patient either being alone or sitting in a colledge among his brethren I might make to exercise a jurisdiction distinct from that of the magistrate and parallel the physitian with the pastor the patient with the penitent the colledge of physitians with the consistory the curing of the patient with the absolving of the penitent and so make the case propounded in the behalf of ecclesiasticall jurisdiction applyable to the medicall jurisdiction changing only the persons Yes I might shew that a parallel being made the medicall would outvie the ecclesiasticall as being lesse inconsistent with the nature of jurisdiction and more distinct from that of the magistrate For 1. the magistrates office extendeth more to the care of souls then to that of bodies 2. Physitians more properly cure diseases then ministers pardon sins 3. Physitians judgements of the nature of diseases are more certain and evident then the ministers judgements of grace and repentance and therefore their sentences are more peremptory I might instance in more particulars at least I could so match both jurisdictions as to make them alike distinct from that of the magistrate Mr. Calandrin in a postscript giveth severall exceptions against what I have said in my Paraenesis of the two courts He saith I do not deny that conscience may be called a court improperly neither do I say that it hath all the properties of a court of magistracy but it hath the necessary conditions required in a court and that name it hath by the common consent of all Divines Philosophers school-men heathens Papists and Protestants none doubting of it whereas many have questioned whether there be any such thing as forum ecclesiasticum and none of those that admitted such a forum or ecclesiasticall court but as they have confessed that ecclesiasticall jurisdiction is improperly so called so have they thought no lesse of an ecclesiasticall court He also findeth fault with me for saying that excommunication was no act of ecclesiasticall power because exercised in the court of man and saith Is not preaching as much an act of the externall court as excommunication when both are done alike with words outwardly I grant that the preaching of the word is an externall act performed by outward moving of the lips and lifting up the voice and so all outward actions of men as buying selling walking striking with a hammer eating drinking and the like which are said to be performed in the court of man not because they are juridicall acts but because they are the subject and matter not only of suits and controversies depending on the court of man but also of lawes and orders made in the same court as if a man preached not at all or preached amisse and erroneously or seditiously that act of his may create an action in the externall court of man so may all other actions I have named as if one sell another mans wares unknown to him if he walks in an undue place and time if he strikes his neighbour with a hammer and so one may make an induction of all actions of men which otherwise are no forinsecall acts but are either naturall morall actions or acts of function and not of jurisdiction as in a physitian to cure the sick in a sea-man to set his ship to sail in a merchant to vend his wares and so in a Divine to do the acts of his function all which are actions performed outwardly in the court of man albeit they be not forinsecall And by reason that excommunication is an outward act it is done in the court of man as well as buying selling and walking and besides it is a forinsecall and juridicall act binding men to outward obedience either actively or passively and of the same nature with other juridicall acts in the courts of men but such an act preaching of the word is not binding none to outward obedience except he be first inwardly convinced though it may fall out to be the subject and matter
division of lawes into civil and ecclesiasticall and tells us how far lawes are to be called ecclesiasticall though they be in truth the magistrates lawes only because they are made by him for the good of the church for as properly saith he lawes may be called scholasticall and Academicall because they were made for the good and benefit of schools or Universities and so far and no further can it be allowed that lawes should be ecclesiasticall CHAPTER IV. Of the nature of judgement what judgement every private man hath what the magistrate and what ministers synods and church-judicatories They have no definitive judgement as Mr. Rutherfurd asserts but the magistrate hath the greatest share in de finitive judgements which is proved by some passages of Mr. Rutherfurd and of Pareus and Rivetus Who is the judge of controversies NOt to run over all the acceptions of judgement which I have handled in my Paraenesis I will mention but one that serveth to decide the whole controversie which lieth in a narrow room whether the magistrate or pastors assembled in a presbytery and synod or even private men be judges of controversies about faith and discipline Iudgement is an act by which every man endowed with reason or pretending to have any upon debating within himself and weighing things to be done or to be believed at length resolveth peremptorily what either he will do himself or will have others to do about things he conceiveth to be true just and usefull For to the nature of judgement it is not required that the thing that a man will do himself or will have others to do be true just and good it being enough that he apprehendeth them to be so I make two judgements one private the other publick The private I call judgement of discretion by which every one having weighed and debated within himself the truth equity goodnesse or â—sefulnesse of counsels advices commands doctrine and persons at length choseth and pitcheth rather upon this then that this judgement may be called judgement of knowledge and apprehension The publick judgement is the delivery of ones private judgement so far as concerneth others by which a man uttereth what he conceiveth fitting for others to do or believe This judgement in ministers presbyteries synods wise men counsellors physitians and others not invested with any jurisdiction and who have more authority then power is called advice counsell declaration when they deliver their sense meaning and opinion upon any debated subject concluding something which they conceive others are to embrace believe or practise In magistrates and men invested with jurisdiction both this publick judgement and the private have the same operation as in ministers synods counsellors and the like but over and above it causeth them to command what they conceived fitting to be received and practised By the publick judgement Pastors do what St. Austin saith Epist 48. to Vincentius pastoris est persuadere ad veritatem persuadendo pastors are to bring to truth by persuasion sed magistratus est cogendo but magistrates are to bring to it by constraint and by commanding From these publick judgements every private man is to appeal to his private judgement of discretion not yielding and giving his assent to the declarations canons sentences of ministers any further then by his judgement of discretion he conceiveth them to be true just and usefull not obeying actively the commands of the magistrate in case he conceiveth them by the same judgement of discretion to be against faith and good manners The staring thus and dividing of judgement decideth as I conceive all the questions and doubts arising about this subject and answereth all Mr. Râ—therfurds and Gillespies definitions and objections concerning judgement They make a fourfold judgement apprehensive discretive definitive and infallible which belongeth only to Jesus Christ The definitive they say is proper to ministers and church-judicatories But they forget the main judgement which giveth life and force to all the rest and is the magistrates when he bringeth to execution things well debated by the judgement of declaration and approved of by the judgement of discretion In that division of theirs they also commit two great errors 1. That they make of one judgement two for to the judgement of discretion they adde a judgement of apprehension which differs only in degrees from the other and were these judgements distinct yet they go alwaies together and are alwaies in the same person and do belong to the private judgement 2. They ascribe a definitive judgement to pastors and church-judicatories which they themselves had need to explain what they mean by for 1. must every private man stand to it and not appeal from it to his judgement of discretion 2. if they do not stand to it what inconvenience harm or danger or worse consequence can befall him then any one that despiseth good counsell or advice which put no obligation except they be reduced into lawes and commands by the magistrate 3. must the magistrate adhere to that definitive judgement and command them without debating within himself whether those definitions be agreable with his own publick or private judgement which indeed is to make of him an executioner If he must not stand to the definitions of pastors and synods but rather they must stand to what he conceiveth most fitting then it is evident that that judgement of pastors called by them definitive is of no validity and hath need to take another name since neither magistrate nor private men are obliged to stand to it except they be convinced that it is reasonable and that its definitions are true just and usefull The evidence of this truth about judgement is so clear that Mr. Rutherfurd and Gillespie are unwares carried sometimes to deliver the substance of what we said before I will alledge but two passages out of Mr. Rutherfurds book of the divine right of church-government for there he overthroweth his definitive judgement of pastors or church-judicatories and setteth above it not only the judgement of the magistrate but also that of every private man for sure that definitive judgement that may be reversed and rejected without any redresse by the ministers cannot be of any weight or validity The first passage is ch 25. quest 21. p. 668. The magistrate is not more tyed to the judgement of a synod or church then any private man is tyed to his practise The tye in discipline and in all synodicall acts and determinations is here as it is in preaching the word the tye is secondary conditionall with limitation so far forth as it agreeth with the word not absolutely obliging not Papal qua nor because commanded or because determined by the church and such as magistrates and all Christians may reject when contrary to or not warranted by the word of God If such words had faln from Grotius or Mr. Coleman they would have been branded for rank Erastianisme If all the presbyterians will but put their names with
of the lawfulnesse of a call hath likewise power to make the call null and void in case it be not valid enough in his apprehension and judgement Good Lord what need is there to trouble the world with a distinct power from the magistrate which is thus evacuated and made void by another power CHAPTER IX The concessions of Mr. Gillespie which come to nothing by the multitudâ— of his evasions and distinctions The vanity and nullity of his and other mens divisions distinctions of power Martyr Musculus Gualterus alledged against the naming of a power ecclesiasticall when it is in truth the magistrates power The positions of Maccovius about the power of the magistrate in sacred things not hitherto answered by any THus we see that even Erastus could say no more then Mr. Gillespie and the confession of Scotland But Mr. Gillespie hath many evasions of modalities causalities and distinctions of power by which he seems sometimes to make large concessions to the magistrate but which when he pleaseth and it serves his turn he can elude and bring to nothing throwing in the eyes distinctions in great store to confound the judgement which is a strong argument of weaknesse unsoundnesse as of a house so of a cause when they need so many supporters whereas those that plead for the magistrates power in sacred things have need but of one only rule to state and define the whole controversy about the magistrates power and the measure of obedience which all Christian churches synods and presbyteries are to yield to them and that rule is that all men either single or convened and met in a society under whatever name or title do submit to and obey the magistrate in all things that are not against faith and good manners And these two things 1. the internall power in the ministery 2. and the externall power of the magistrate nakedly understood make short work and rid us of that army of causes kinds and distinctions of power and operations which M. Gillespie opposeth to a single combatant who notwithstanding is much stronger with his one only weapon then Mr. Gilâ—espie with his thousands as the fable saith of the cat whose one only caveat and shift to avoid 〈◊〉 by climbing up the first tree or house did more avail for her preservation then the whole bag-full of wiles and policies of the fox It were an endlesse labour to bring into a body all the divisions distinctions causalities modalities forms and objects of powers dispersed in Mr. Gillespies book Pag. 191. he maketh two objects about which ecclesiasticall power is conversant first the object of the magistrates care of religion and the object of the operation of that care Thus he and others make a power which he calls a care of the religion and another a care about religion As for the power itself considered generally they make it double ecclesiasticall and civil this is wholly the magistrates in the other the magistrate hath also a share for they say this ecciesiasticall power is exercised either in a politick way or in an ecclesiasticall way thus they make an ecclesiasticall civil power residing in the magistrate Next they divide ecclesiasticall power into intrinsecall and extrinsecall into direct and indirect the extrinsecall and indirect they yield to the magistrate thus you have again an ecclesiasticall power belonging to the magistrate Again they have an objective and formall ecclesiasticall power which needeth a further subdivision to be understood for they make an objective ecclesiasticall power conversant about persons and things and this they say belongeth only to the magistrate and a formall ecclesiasticall power in which the magistrate hath his share with the ministers so that of these two ecclesiasticall powers objective and formall it will prove that the magistrate hath 3. parts and the ministers but one for this ecclesiasticall formall power is again divided by them into a power exercised ratione objecti objective-way about things and persons which kind of power say they belongs to the sole magistrate and into a power exercised in an ecclesiasticall way which they say is the ministers portion Pag. 261. he hath an ecclesiasticall power which he divides into perfect and imperfect which he calls pro tanto of this stamp is this division of ecclesiasticall power into the power of every way and the power more suo which distinctions are so subtile that they are beyond Scotus apprehension He hath also a division of ecclesiasticall power into imperative and elicitive this is proper to ministers that to magistrates and then an ecclesiasticall power and jurisdiction properly so called and another improperly so called The jurisdiction improperly so called he and all his brethren ascribe to the ministers but the jurisdiction properly so called to the magistrate Which thing no way agreeth with the division of ecclesiasticall power into perfect and imperfect above-mentioned for whereas they make the perfect ecclesiasticall power to belong to the ministers and the imperfect to the magistrate here they make the ecclesiasticall power properly so called to pertain to the magistrate and the power improperly so called to the ministers so that if we believe them the power properly so called shall be the imperfect power as on the contrary the power improperly so called shall be the perfect power which is against any mans common sense and logick By the help of these distinctions the Popes and their advocates have defended the power of excommunicating and deposing Kings yea of disposing of their temporaâ—ties saying that the Pope hath not a direct power over them but an indirect but yet causing to be seized or seizing directly of their dominions as Julius the II. the Kingdom of Navarre per indirectam potestatem in casu necessitatis in ordine ad spiritualia potest summus pontifex manum imponere regnis imperiis cum plenissima potestate I have not done yet ranking in files the severall ecclesiasticall powers They further divide it into elicitive and coercive into primary and secondary power into the power managed directly and ex consequenti into a power of reforming abuses under the notion of formality of scandall and a power under the notion of formality of crime And to draw to an end of dividing they have more divisions of ecclesiasticall powers as into directive and coercive cumulative and privative auxiliary and destructive declarative and executive authoritative constitutive the auxiliary they derive from Charles the great capitulari Car. mag Volumus vos scire voluntatem nostram quod nos parati sumus vos adjuvare ubicunque necesse est ut ministerium vestrum adimplere valeatis we will have you to know that we are ready to help you in the ministerie Now of all these divisions of ecclesiasticall powers the magistrate hath alwayes one half the ministers sometimes none except they take for themselves the destructive and privative powers which indeed signify just nothing and are â—ntâ—arationis except also they content
for expressely all kinds of debates about matters criminall not criminall were to be judged by them jointly So then the elders of the Jewish church cannot be a fit parallel with the elders of the church of the new Testament since the elders under the old Testament were judges even in capitall causes but under the new they were not besides that the elders under the old Testament were to make but one councell one judicatorie with the Commonwealth with the Judges and Princes of the land but neither the Rev. Assembly nor M. Gillespie will allow the elders of the new Testament to have any thing to do to sit as church-officers with the judges of the land and to decide causes betwixt blood and blood 3. But the eleventh verse concerning Amariah the chief Priest appointed to be over all matters of the Lord and Zebadiah for the Kings businesses doth further clear that there was no such thing amongst the Jewes as a government distinct from that of the magistrate though many cry here 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as if it were a strong place for a distinct and double jurisdiction for it is plain here that Amariah the chief Priest was appointed to be as Mr. Gillespie confesseth p. 146. the Nasi or Prince of the Sanedrim and chief ruler of the Senate whereof mention is made in the 8. verse and which was made up of Priests Levites and the elders of the people of Israel and judged of such causes and matters as usually a high court of Parliament do This Amariah in that place of chief-presidency in the Senate is said to be over all matters of the Lord because as all manner of lawes constitutions and ordinances were all from God the author and latour and from Moses under God the giver of them all so every matter or businesse concerning any of those lawes violated and broken or that needeth further explanation by reason of the infinity of cases and the seeming contradictions between one law and another was truely and properly called the matter of the Lord and was debated in the Senate for no doubt all causes about ceremoniall lawes and judgements concerning degrees of marriages inheritances and such like were as well matter of the Lord as the judgement of leprosy sacrifices and the like In that Senate which debated such matters of the Lord was Amariah Mr. Speaker Mr. Gâ—…spie acknowledgeth that he was the ruler and judge of the people for thus he speaketh p. 140. that the high Priest was a ruler of the people as well as of the Priests and Levites is man fest from Act. 23. v. 5. where Paul applyeth to the high Priest that law Thou shalt not speak evil of the ruler of thy people Thus Mâ— Gillespie pleadeth for us with as strong arguments as we could ever produce for our selves viz. 1. that the jurisdiction of the high Priest as such was not distinct from that of the magistrate neither before nor since Christs time 2. that his jurisdiction was not annexed to the Priestly office but to the office of a judge and â—uler of the land 3. that he judged of the matters of the Lord as judge ruler and Prince of the Senate and not as a high Priest 4. that there being not two Senates as Mr. Gillespie acknowledgeth in Christs time nor before his time one ecclesiasticall another civil that one Sâ—nate that was standing could not properly be called either ecclesiasticall or civil â—ut the magistrates Senate endowed with one and that externall jurisdiction in all causes and matters and over all persons 4. Now for Zebadiah the case is clear that he was appointed either Steward or Mr. Controller it may be chamberlain of the Kings houshold or rather a principall minister not of State but set over his familie lands armies moneys jewels c. 5. This alone that Iehosaphat appointed both Amariah and Zebadiah to be chief magistrates and rulers one over the matters of God the other of the King evinceth that all jurisdiction was united in the King depended on him and was subordinate to him For it is plain out of Iosephus lib. 9. cap. 1. that these two magistrates Amariah and Zebadiah and the setting of them over the matter of God and the businesse of the King was an act of sovereign jurisdiction or of magistracy summos magistratus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ex amicorum numero praeposuit 6. The matter judged in that Sanedrim where Amariah was Speaker argueth that it was no ecclesiasticall court Mr. Gillespie understandeth betwixt blood and blood not of capitall offences but concerning forbidden degrees of marriages Which though it were he must prove that matrimoniall causes belonged to the cognizance not of civil but of ecclesiasticall tribunals which no man will ever be able to prove 7. To take away all doubt but that Amariah was appointed the chief ruler of the people of God under the King in all matters that concerned the lawes given by God to his people of whatever nature they were and Zebadiah Governour under the King of the Kings house and affairs there is a pregnant place 1 Chronic. 26. vers 30. and 32. For in the 30. verse Hashabiah and his brethren even one thousand and seven hundred officers on this side Iordan westward are said to be set over the businesse of the Lord and the service of the King and 〈◊〉 the 32. it is said that David made ruiers over the Reubenites the Gadites and the half tribe of Manasseh for every matter pertaining to God and the affairs of the King First here we see neither Priests nor Levites but men of other tribes set promiscuously over both the matter of the Lord and the affairs of the King 2. Who seeth not that the matter of God is the matter of the Commonwealth even all judgements lawes constitutions appointed by God by which the people of God were judged and righted and that the affairs of the King were those that pertain to the Kings demeasnes rents armie c. 3. And who seeth not that all the affairs and all the matters that needed to be ordered and regulated in those places and tribes are divided into two classes viz. into the matter of God or the people of God and the affairs that respected the Kings own businesse and service 4. What absurdity then would it be to imagine that the affairs of the King were civil businesses judged and handled by secular men and the matter of God ecclesiasticall causes judged by ecclesiasticall men in an ecclesiasticall judicatory For even admitting Mr. Gillespies sense why should not the affairs of the church be the affairs of the King since he was set by God and appointed to reform it and why should not the affairs of the Commonwealth be the affairs of God 8. Mr. Gillespie p. 14. is of another mind then he meaneth to be p. 140. whence we have quoted him for us for in the 14. page he approveth that the reverend and learned assembly of
change for the better or hinder a change for the worse The King or another magistrate as he doth not ordain so he doth not depose formally as I may so speak or administratorily yet he doth it of himself not only by his counsell command and authority for he may command it when there is just cause of deposing a minister to those that have that power in the church who in that case and there being just cause for it if they do not obey and do what he commandeth are subject not only to wrath but also to Gods judgement Ministers as ministers are subjects to the soveraign magistrate why then should it not be lawfull to appeal from the judgement of subjects to the supreme magistrate and why may it not be lawfull for the supreme magistrate to review the judgements of his subjects to ratify them if they be good and to abrogate them if they be bad There is a subjection of the magistrate to the ecclesiasticall senat but not of jurisdiction as under a command but of direction and counsell CHAPTER XXXIII The judgement of some Divines yet living both of the argument in hand and of the writings of the Author Of some mens strong prejudices against harsh censures of him I Have through all this book and in the first section of my Corollarium proved that I have digressed nothing in my Paraenesis from Scripture reason about the right of churches and the magistrates power in matters of religion but my opinion is also confirmed by two kinds of authorities of learned and orthodox Divines The first kind of authorities is of those that for the main concur with me or rather I with them such are Zuinglius Musculus Bullingerus Gualterus Mestrezat Mr. Jeremiah Burroughs Mr. Lightfoot c. The second kind is of those that though in generall they profess to be for a church-government distinct from that of the magistrate yet if one take notice of all the positions concerning that argument which each of them admit and grant will be found jointly though not every one of them considered a part to say as much as I just as the Protestants doctrine will be found in all though not in each of the Romish authors overcome by the evidence of truth in the handling of some points controverted betwixt them and us as Scotus confesseth that Transubstantiation hath no ground in Scripture Cajetan denyeth the Popish indulgences Bellarmin after he hath much heightned the merit of works concludeth with a â—utissimum est and flieth to the righteousnesse of Christ apprehended by faith as the safest anchor to stay a staggering Christian Jansenius is right in the doctrine of grace all the rest in some positions or other hold with us And of this kind are Bucer Martyr Jewell Zanchius Reynolds Camero Rivet and many more who besides by yielding an inch have given us a whole handfull to believe that what we have discoursed of the nature of power lawes judgement the right of churches and the magistrates power in matters of religion is both reason and Scripture For whoever admits as most of these authors do that the judgements of Pastors in presbyteries synods are subordinate to that of the soveraign Christian magistrate and that appeals from church-judicatories to the magistrate are grounded upon Scripture reason and the practise of all nations and besides saith that the magistrate is the supreme governour and head of the church over all causes and persons whoever I say grants these to be truths must needs overthrow ecclesiasticall jurisdiction and power of excommunication except it be in subordination to and dependently on the magistrate But among all the reformed Divines who appear in the throng of those that hold an ecclesiasticall jurisdiction and a government distinct from that of the magistrate none hath delivered positions in print so near the language of Mr. Coleman as Ludovicus Cappellus pastor and Professor at Saumur yet living hath done which passing currant for truth from the mouth of Cappellus if they had fallen from Mr. Coleman would have been taken by our brethren the Scots for pernicious and dangerous tenets and mere Erastianisme In the first part of his Theses Salmurienses de potestate regimine Ecclesiae thes 12. he saith that pastors have properly no other jurisdiction then that which subdueth the affections of the world and the flesh when the spirit of Christ in the word restraineth the assaults of Satan that there is no other authority of governing the church then what is seated in Christ the head when by the efficacy of his spirit he enlighteneth the mind and convinceth the conscience In his 40. thesis he saith that the constitutions of the church have authority no further then as they agree with reason In his 41. and 42. he puts equall stresse of duty upon the magistrate in governing and ordering the church the commonwealth as being keeper of one table as well as the other These are his words in Latin Porro his de rebus dispiciendi atque statuendi ita penes ecclesiam hoc est ecclesiasticos quos vâ—cant viros est potestas ut si magistratus pius Christianus sit fierâ—id non debeat non modo sine ejus consilio conscientia verum etiam sine ejus authoritate qua ea quae videbuntur in hoc genere conducibilia confirmentur vimque legis obtineant Is nempe est utriusque divinae legis Tabulae vindex atque custos ad quem propterea pertinet etiam pastores si cessent vel peccent in officium movere objurgare ubi opus fuerit castigare denique prospicere atque providere ut omnia tum in ecclesia tum in republica seu politia recte ordinate fiant utque ordinis legitime constituti turbatores violatores pro merito puniantur This he seemeth to speak after Pareus in his Miscellanea Catechetica art 11. aphoris 18. where he layeth upon the magistrate a greater duty in governing the church then the commonwealth and more in keeping the first table then the second Hoc vero jus gubernandi ecclesias sacra Scriptura disertim magistratui attribuit ut ei quemadmodum tenetur procurare ut bonum civile in foro judiciis legitime administretur ita non minor imo longe major ejus cura esse debeat ut jus Divinum bonum illud animarum hoc est vera religio pietas subditis suis in ecclesia scholis ad aeternam eorum salutem proponatur juxta legem testimonium idem docent exempla laudatissimorum regum Davidis c. Sic Paulus affatur Christianos Romanos Minister est Dei tuo bono ubi intelligit omne bonum tam civile terrenum quam ecclesiasticum seu spirituale secus namque magistratus homini Christiano non plus commodaret quam infideli Ac sane dolendum est rectius in hoc capite sensisse olim ethnicos qui unanimi consensu regi suo demandarunt